China's top legislator Li Peng on Monday stressed the importance of children's education and called for still greater efforts to promote the welfare of the country's future generations.
In a congratulatory letter to the China National Children's Center, which marked its 20th anniversary here on Monday, Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top Chinese legislature, called China's 300-strong million children "the future of the country and hope of the nation".
Praising the center for two decades of successful work, Li, also a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, expressed the hope that the center would continue efforts to establish itself as a "model base of children's education" as well as a "recreational paradise loved by all kids".
A state-funded institution focusing on children's education and welfare, the Beijing-based China National Children's Center has contributed itself in organizing off-school activities for Chinese children. It has also cooperated with the United Nations Children's Fund.
(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2002)